How you can upgrade from a Kindle 2 to a Kindle 3 for less than $30

Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and iPad by andyi

Are you wondering if you should buy a Kindle 3 if you already have a Kindle 2? Or whether you should buy someone a Kindle 3 if they already have a Kindle 2?

The answer is yes. Not only is the Kindle 3 better than the Kindle 2 but you can also sell your used Kindle 2 on Ebay for about $160. Since a new Kindle 3G is only $189, that means you might upgrade your Kindle for less than $30!

5 other reasons to buy a Kindle 3 even if you already have a Kindle 2:

Comparing the screen quality of the Kindle 2 versus the Kindle 3 by OmegaPoint
  1. The picture is better.
  2. The pages turn faster. After using my Kindle 2 for so long, I’ve gotten used to hitting next page before I reach the end of the page because it takes a few seconds. The Kindle 3 turns pages much quicker.
  3. The battery lasts longer. My Kindle 2 battery lasts plenty long if I leave the wireless off. However, I like to keep my place synchronized on Amazon, so if I have a moment to read a few pages on my phone, it knows exactly where I left off on my Kindle.
  4. It’s smaller. It’s a bit smaller (half an inch in width and height) and lighter (1.5 ounces) but the screen is the same size.
  5. Someone else in the household can now have a Kindle with all the same books on it! (If you don’t sell it on eBay!)

Free ride in space?

This guy turned down a free ride to space because he realized he’d have to pay $25,000 in taxes on it.   My SO suggested that he could sell his space clothes for $25K on eBay afterwards!

Watch who you bid against in eBay!

Last night on my way home I got a text message from eBay saying I hadn’t won the item I bid on.  That was a little strange.  I use eSnipe, so usually if I bid, I win the item. – If the item is still below what I’m willing to pay for it, three seconds before the auction ends eSnipe places a bid for me.  No human can squeeze in a bid after that so if the item is going for a price I think is reasonable, I win it.  So eBay only gets a bid from me when I’m going to win the item.  If the item is out of the range I’m willing to pay, eBay never even knows I was interested in it.  So, if I got an email saying I lost, that meant someone had squeezed in a bid in the last three seconds of the auction!  They had to be using a tool like eSnipe too.  Interesting.

Then I got home and Frank said, "hey, I bought one of those shirts for Jacob!"  I said "for $6.50?"  He said, "yeees … the yellow one?"  We were bidding against each other and I drove his bid up 50 cents!  We had a good laugh about it. 


Buying Kids’ Clothes on eBay

I buy all the kids’ clothes on eBay.  I always search for "lots" which are large lots of clothes – they are usually the best deal.  For example, a mother might sell a "lot" of 4 year old clothes – all of her kid’s 4 year old clothes when he outgrows them.  Another way to find good deals is to use the advanced search option to search in the kids’ clothes category for all lots that have zero bids.  Usually those are lots that have bad pictures, bad titles or bad descriptions but they might still be good clothes.

I also bought lots of maternity clothes on eBay when I was pregnant.

Also, don’t forget eSnipe when you go to do your bidding!


The Secret to Buying on eBay

Frank called me the eBay Queen today.  I told him the problem was I’m the eBay Buying Queen and I’d much rather be the eBay Selling Queen.  I’ll tell you the secret to buying on eBay: eSnipe.  eSnipe lets you set how much you are willing to bid on an item and how close to the end you are willing to wait.  Then it bids for you.  So you get to set what you think the item is worth – no bidding past what you think it’s worth because you got involved in the bidding frenzy.  And no getting outbid at the last second because you don’t bid until the last second.  I usually tell eSnipe to start bidding three seconds before the end of an auction – no human can outbid that.

So I win lots of auctions but I never pay more than I think something is worth.